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Senior Member
I liked your post right up till you said you kept a 5lb smallmouth, ouch. Why not a fiberglass mount they look just as good? Idiots on Cumberland are quite common place I could tell you stories for hours, lol. According to the KDFW it takes about 12 years on average to grow a 5lb plus smallmouth in Kentucky waters and can be as high as 14 to 15 years.
Senior Member
I might get blasted on here but I don't care, I'm with Ryan on this one, if I were him I would have kept that nice 5lb smallmouth too...well, maybe I would have, I probably would have...I guess, I don't know, it all depends on how long the fish was. In Cumberland they have to be 18" so if it was 18 1/4" to 18 1/2" I might not have kept it...I guess it all depends on my mood at the time and how my finances are holding out to pay for a quality taxidermist.
Back in the spring of 07 I caught a solid/true/real 6 lb'r on Dale that was slightly/barely over 21", I think she went 21 1/4". Sure it was a trohy fish and I looked at her and thought long and hard about keeping her but I ended up throwing her back. It took me a long time to catch a fish like that but I was bound and determined that I wouldn't keep a smallmouth out of Dale unless it was at least 21 1/2" to 22", it's like when someone comes in my house I don't want there to be any doubt what so ever that I have a true trophy on the wall. Now the funny thing is...looking back on it now I wished I would have kept that fish. Fiberglass mounts just ain't the same in my own opinion.
Great catch Ryan! What did you catch it on, the silver buddy or the fly?
For the life of me, I just don't understand why you'd want a mounted fish instead of a digital picture framed up as an 8 X 10, or even blown way up to poster size. The picture would show you and the fish and that proves where it came from. The fish on the wall only proves its dead, not who caught it, where or when. Ever seen a mounted real fish after about 10 years? They are usually so faded, dust encrusted, and cob webbed that they become a real eyesore. A replica mount I think is a sham, cause anybody can take a 2 pound fish picture to the fabircator, and have them make it up to be a 10 pounder instead. Guess I'm just too much a techno geek, but ain't no dead animals of any type being hung up on this kid's walls. I think hanging dead fish on the wall ranks right up there with the insanity of having an empty beer bottle collection. If I want to impress someone, they are gonna see my full frig of full brewskis while we play the CD of fishing pics on the 42 inch flat panel. Besides, ya spent money for gas to get to the lake, gas for the boat, ramp fee, money for munchies, a couple bucks on fishing tackle, and maybe some bait money, only to then add to that cost by taking the FREE fish you caught and spending maybe $100 to $200 more to make a wall hanger out of it? Take the digital picture, and use the money not spent on making a dust collector to buy a couple cases of good brew and a good bottle of burbon. After 4 beers and 3 shots of burbon, I guarantee you that fish will look much better on the flat panel than on the wall. PS. The CD of fish pictures can be taken to your friends houses, ya want to spend half a day loading the truck with dead wall hangers to get the same opportunity to display your catch? Just my opinion, I might be wrong.
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